Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan hope to make film about African King Mansa Musa – the richest man in history

theyoungempire

1 year ago

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HISTORY: Michael B. Jordan (right) and Ryan Coogler

DIRECTOR RYAN Coogler and actor Michael B. Jordan have worked together since 2013.

Their first project was Fruitvale Station where Michael portrayed Oscar Grant, a San Fransisco Bay-area young man gunned down on the BART transit system.

The film made the two stars on the independent film circuit and inadvertently earned them more high-profile jobs.

Michael went on to star in the most recent Fantastic Four film and ended last year ended on a high when the two reunited for Creed, the new installment of the Rockyfranchise that focuses on Apollo Creed’s son Adonis.

With just two films under his belt, Ryan seems invincible. Jordan’s best performances came while working with Ryan, and the two realise that they need each other to survive in Hollywood.

“You got to tell stories in today, or in the future,” says Jordan. “Or can we go back even further? There’s always one period that people want to go back to, but can we go back to Hannibal? Or Mansa Musa, destroying economies as he traveled? Can we go back to the Egyptians?”

Mansa Musa I of Mali – the obscure 14th century African king was the richest person in all history.

With an inflation adjusted fortune of $400 billion, Mansa Musa I would have been considerably richer than the world’s current richest man, Carlos Slim, who ranks in 22nd place with a relatively paltry $68 billion.

Mansa Musa I ruled West Africa’s Malian Empire in the early 1300s, making his fortune by exploiting his country’s salt and gold production. Many mosques he built as a young man still stand today.